Pacific Grimm
by FleetofWarships
Summary: A Pacific Rim AU where the Grimm are big but the mechs are bigger. Featuring Pollination.
1. Inititation

"Ruby wake up!"

Ruby awoke with a start to her sister shaking her awake and klaxons ringing in her ears.

"What's going on?"

"Category three is moving in, local forces are being told to evacuate with civilians."

"What about STRQ? Why aren't they standing by?"

"They got called away last night for a cat five, our daily defense jaegers can't handle a three."

"Isn't the mainland sending anyone?"

"They won't get here in time, now get dressed we've got to get going."

Ruby quickly slipped into her jumpsuit and grabbed what few belongings she kept on station with her and moved with Yang seeing that they were the last ones leaving the barracks. The two hopped aboard the military issue transport that had been waiting in the courtyard as it was taking off with the last of the bases personnel. Ahead of them the running lights of the civilian craft could be seen with the green lights of military ships outlining their formation. Behind them the bioluminescent red glow of the category three Grimm appeared over the far side of the island and clambered over their two hundred foot defense wall with ease. Any who hadn't evacuated would likely be dead within the hour, survivors had become increasingly rare in recent months.

"Maybe we'll come back some day," Ruby muttered as she watched their hometown fade into the distance.

"That settles it, we're signing up with the Remnant Defense Corps," Yang stated.

The two had been on the fence about following in their parents footsteps and joining a full team of jaeger pilots where they'd be forced to drift with two other people for a while but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"T-minus two minutes till landfall. Vale integration seminars are at eight and ten in the morning, until then try and get some sleep. We've all had a hard night," the commander of Patch's militia broadcast across the formations bandwidth.

"We enlist tomorrow morning."

 _ **Two months later**_

"Ruby! Yang! Letters for ya!" Qrow called as he came back inside from grabbing the morning paper.

The sound of two pairs of feet running down the stairs echoed through the house as the two girls had been expecting this letter since their entry exams to the RDC that fateful night.

"Oh lemme see!" Ruby chattered excitedly as she half slid half fell on the hardwood of the kitchen.

"Yeah show us!" Yang agreed with equal excitement.

"What's all the racket about?" Raven asked as she dragged herself out of the room she, her wife, and husband shared.

"Ask them."

"We got in!" the two screamed in excitement at the same time.

"Nice job kiddos, now if you'd like to be a little quieter I need to get started on breakfast, it's my turn today," Raven said while pushing past the two overjoyed teens into the kitchen.

"Initiation is tomorrow morning at three, cadets are expected to be combat ready on arrival, if no CQB ready equipment is available it will be provided. Teams will be assigned within the hour of the initiation ceremony. Team drifting trials will begin a week after initiation," Yang read from the introductory guide.

"Siblings always end up on the same team at least, maybe even partners if your bond isn't better with one of your other teammates," Raven noted as she poured pancake batter onto a sizzling skillet.

"You're still angry about the fact that I ended up partnered with you," Qrow shot while he sipped his coffee.

"Considering the fact that I'm married to our other two teammates now, yeah."

"We've only ever drifted with each other, is it any different when you drift with someone you don't know as well?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Kinda, you don't know them as well so it's definitely going to take a bit longer to find out if you're compatible or not. Also all your feelings, deepest secrets, and fears are on display."

"We both had to get short term therapy after drifting with Summer, she went through some serious stuff as a kid."

"That's called an ROMT, rub-off mental trauma, doesn't happen if you get the trauma while drifting but in certain cases if someone's trauma is particularly bad or their mental state is bad enough it can do some seriously bad stuff to people."

"Catatonia, memory loss, permanent amnesia, multiple personality disorder, drifting can break people just as easily as it can bring them together. Be careful with it."

"Also don't be weirded out if you start getting really attached to your teammates, romantic feelings are very common and actually help out a lot."

The sisters turned and saw their father in the hall behind them.

"Morning Tai," Qrow greeted his brother in law cheerfully.

"I'm so proud of you two, did you see what your scores were on the written exams?"

"Not yet, just that we passed the physical and written portions and made it in."

"It'll have your recommended team position on there along with your grades."

The two sisters turned their letters over to check their scoring.

"Team leader? Why did I get team leader?" Ruby asked.

"Means you're the most capable of drifting with more than one person, you'd have the likelihood of high drift sync with your whole team. What'd you get Yang?"

"Team base. Like the base of a pyramid I guess?"

"Exactly right. You take after your dad, he's our base."

"What's with all the noise?" Summer yawned as she walked into the kitchen and towards the coffee machine.

"We got in!" Ruby said again.

"You got in?"

"We got in!" Yang said this time.

"Oh I'm so proud of both of you, you're gonna do great at Beacon!" Summer said wrapping her daughters in a tight hug.

"Ugh, why did initiation have to be tomorrow though, now we have to wait through today," Yang groaned realizing how far away tomorrow morning at three was.

"At least you can go to sleep early to wake up on time and cut out a good chunk of that," Raven suggested.

"That's not what I did. I was late," Summer said somewhat proud of her tardiness.

"Qrow and I were early, trying to scope out who we wanted to be on a team with."

"And I was right on time," Tai stated.

"We should still get there early, Ruby's hard to get awake and it would be easier if she's had time to come to her senses by the time initiation starts," Yang decided.

"What even is initiation?" the younger sister asked.

"They change it every year, it's usually some kind of trial that tests your physical and mental abilities while forcing you to work with others. Whoever you end up with during initiation will likely be the rest of your team. There have been exceptions where pairs don't drift well with others and end up as a solo backup jaeger, or times when more than four people have ended up on a team and those are usually the patrol groups, multiple jaegers synced up over a large area can certainly keep a look out when they're all sharing a mind," Summer explained.

"I hope we just end up on a normal team so we can take missions and get deployed around Remnant like you guys."

"Breakfast is ready, eat up we don't want you hungry tomorrow," Raven said as she set down the freshly made pancakes on the table in front of everyone.

The two sisters dug into their breakfast before running back to their shared room to pack the necessities before their big day tomorrow. The rest of the day seemed to speed by as they went about their usual schedule albeit more excited and on edge than was normal. Before they knew it two in the morning had come and they were up and getting ready. Few words were spoken between the sisters as they made final preparations and ate a simple breakfast before heading out the door to catch a bus to the RDC center located near a cliff edge overlooking the sea and port district where it was easiest to deploy the massive mecha that defended their kingdoms from the Grimm. The smell of salt hit them like a wave when they stepped off the bus in the still pitch dark morning. Hundreds of other accepted cadets milled around in the darkness waiting for the three o'clock mark to hit. Some sat on benches and looked through their phones to pass the time while others talked with and attempted to get to know anyone who might end up on their team. A few people stood out in the crowd of accepted candidates, there was a girl wearing a cute black bow who seemed to be watching them over the top of her book, a well dressed girl with long white hair up in a ponytail who seemed to be judging everybody around her, and a blond boy who seemed very lost and at least a little bit sick as he stumbled past people in search of a trash can. Chaos erupted in seconds as the blond boy doubled over and lost his breakfast right beside the white haired preppy girl.

"How dare you!" The girl shoved him away.

"Hey look I'm sorry about that I just have trouble with crowds and- oh no," he barely had time to turn away before vomiting again.

Ruby made her way over to the pair.

"Hey I've got a towe if you need something to wipe that off with," Ruby offered her workout towel from her bag to the preppy girl before moving over to check on the blond guy, "You alright?"

"Just a bit of an anxiety problem with crowds," he muttered before throwing up again with only bile coming up this time.

Ruby flinched as he retched and backed up slightly. Yang stepped up beside her sister to check on the boy too.

"Dude, you all right?"

"Never better," he groaned.

"I've got some stomach pills if you need them," Yang offered.

"Yeah fine," the boy accepted the pills Yang handed to him.

"Uh, thanks for that," the white haired girl said as she handed Ruby her towel back.

"No problem. Are you alright? You seem a little sick too," Ruby said noticing an odd look on the girls face.

"I'm just a little out of my element here," the girl said looking back around at the crowd of people.

"Yeah, high society back in Atlas is definitely your element," the girl who had been reading spoke up.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" The white haired girl asked in outrage.

"More than they do. You're Weiss Schnee heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, supplier of arms and ammunition as well as energy and production of the majority of Remnant, also a wide user of slave labor and the exploitation of Faunus."

"And by no means do I condone the actions my father has taken since my grandfathers death! I'm not exactly the poster child of success either," she seemingly pulled a newspaper from nowhere and pointed to the front page where an entire article was about her removal from the line of succession to the Schnee legacy.

The black haired girl nodded smugly, "And oh how the mighty have fallen, you still have luxury to fall back on so what brings you all the way here to Vale to join the RDC?"

"Spite, a lot of cash stolen from my father, and a need to set things right."

"Honesty. I'm surprised. I was assuming you'd pay your way in and have no actual skill but you must have some other plan if you're hard on cash. I'll see you in initiation then Schnee," the girl said walking away towards the building.

"I wonder who she was," Ruby said looking after the girl.

"Probably some rights activist who has no idea what she's talking about, so many of those movements are full of hypocrites," Weiss scoffed.

"She actually had a couple good points," Yang admitted as she'd done a fair amount of activism with their parents.

"The slave labor and exploitation, I know all about that and it's horrible, that's why I left, but there was no reason to go after me directly when I'm not the problem."

"Names can bring a lot of pressure, she's done nothing to prove she isn't living up to her father and I'm doing nothing to even try," the blond boy said from off to the side where he'd been listening.

"Who are you again?" Weiss asked with a slight look of disgust.

"Jaune Arc, you may recognize my last name but don't let it fool you, I'm not even half the hero any of my ancestors are," Jaune sighed.

"Oh yeah, the Arc family, isn't their whole deal glorious last stands sacrificing themselves to save others?" Ruby asked unsure.

"That was back in the days before we could properly fight the Grimm, past two generations have all been Jaeger pilots and so far all of this one too. Except for me. All seven of my sisters have been out here kicking giant monster tail and I've been struggling to get into the local militia. I have no idea why they even accepted my application here."

"Probably just reputation then, we got in maybe with help from our parents rep but we also passed the tests with flying colors," Yang boasted.

"Oh really? Who are your parents?"

"Team STRQ! Well minus Qrow of course but he's our uncle so close enough," Ruby shrugged.

"No way! _The_ team STRQ?"

"You better believe it."

"Man that's cool. That means you're from Patch right? I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine, you're not the one that destroyed it. The Grimm are."

Their conversation was interrupted by the morning bulge marking the start to the day and the beginning of the initiation process. The crowd of cadets filed inside where it was much warmer than the chilled darkness outside. Inside the grand lobby black marble and chrome shined in the warm light. Hallways went off in multiple directions of what would normally be a very busy area. In the center of the diamond shaped room a tall man with silver hair and spectacles stood waiting for them.

"Greetings. As some of you may know I am Ozpin. I am the head of the RDC and primary designer of our Jaegers. This is my facility, it was built and designed by me. Not alone of course but I didn't sit back and watch either," he chuckled before continuing, "Today you will be going through the initiation ceremony. To explain the entire process would take hours so I will tell you the basic rules. There are one hundred and fourty eight of you here today and we only have enough Jaeger frames for a hundred, so fourty eight of you will either be going home or continuing to work outside of the Jaegers here depending on your success during initiation. We will be dropping you into a simulated hostile environment. When you find other cadets you will have two options, to attack them, or assist them. If you help a cadet they are almost guaranteed a spot on your team but if you attack one whoever loses the fight will most likely be removed from the program, so choose your battles wisely and your friends wiser. Follow me."

Ozpin turned and went down the longest hallway behind the receptionist desk. After a few feet of bare concrete the walls and ceiling opened up into glass revealing that they stood high above the Jaeger deployment yards and were headed towards the monolith of a training building on the far side of the facility. Down below sparks flew and base pattern Jaegers ready for pilot customization. All Jaegers had two forms depending on which teammate was swapped out between the two in the team and even a rudimentary form of active camouflage that could change the mecha's color based on who was aboard allowing for easier identification on the battlefield.

"You will not be piloting these immediately after team assignment and basic training many are only shells and are not fully equipped or even finished with construction yet," Ozpin pointed out a Jaeger who's head was removed allowing its inner workings to be seen revealing it was only the structure without any of the working parts.

"Wow," Ruby gasped as she surveyed the massive amounts of production equipment below.

"Not a single piece of Schnee equipment among them, it really is that bad," Weiss muttered as she continued to walk.

"Please step inside and choose a marked starting platform," Ozpin said holding open a door at the end of the hall leading into a massive open room made up of dull grey panels.

Ozpin closed the door behind them and went down a side hallway into the elevator lift observation chamber, a room designed to rise up and down the height of the monolith that was the training building.

"Take us down," he ordered.

A technician who was monitoring the situation entered the command and sent the entire room down sixty feet so it was just below the floor the candidates were standing on and the window taking up the entire wall faced out into a lush jungle that was only given away as fake by the grey wall panels. On the ceiling red lights showed unoccupied deployment platforms and green signified ones where cadets were standing in place waiting. Once all one hundred and fourty eight cadets were on platforms Ozpin spoke into a microphone on the dashboard just below the long window.

"Cadets, your initiation begins, now."

On his mark the floor dropped out from beneath the cadets sending them plummeting into the dense foliage below. Ruby screamed in excitement as she fell maintaining sight on her sister who had taken up a spot beside her the whole way down. Once everybody had hit the ground with a dull thud resounding through the jungle over the noises of birds and insects. Time seemed to stop for a moment as everybody's movement was restricted completely. A few screams rang out before Ozpin spoke through the microphone again.

"In a moment you will be put in a combat suit similar to those your will be wearing during actual combat as well as provided with weapons. The weapons cannot kill you while in these suits but you will be effected as if they could if you are hit."

The explanation wasn't very calming as people were covered in a thin film of nanobots before forming the full body suits complete with full face mask that appeared pitch dark from outside.

"You have all been assigned a color designation, try not to forget it."

Ruby looked down at her hands and saw red highlights lining the rather comfortable suit. On the ground a scythe and a strange looking carbon fiber bolt action rifle had appeared out of thin air.

"Shit!"

Ruby heard somebody cry out from her left and grabbed her weapons before running to investigate forgetting about her sister for a moment. Ruby broke through the undergrowth to see Weiss stuck in a tree.

"Which option are you picking?" Weiss asked her.

"Friend?" Ruby asked Weiss in response.

"Ugh, fine. You don't seem too incompetent, now help me down, my weapons are down there."

Ruby scaled the tree with ease and got Weiss loose from the branches. Weiss picked up her weapons which had ended up being a rapier and a heavy revolver.

"Ruby Rose!" Ruby introduces herself excitedly as she extended her hand to shake with Weiss.

"Weiss Schnee," Weiss said taking her hand, "Thanks for the towel earlier."

"It was no big deal. Wait where's Yang? Yang!" Ruby realized she'd left her sister and charged off into the trees in the direction she'd fallen with Weiss running off after her hoping not to get separated from her new teammate.

Bullets zipped past Yang as she ran, luckily her opponent had terrible aim and even worse depth perception after she'd beaten him over the back of the head with the stock of the shotgun she'd gotten, realizing it would do more than the brass knuckles she'd gotten no matter how heavy and spiked they were. Yang ducked behind a rock and noted her location at the bottom of a shallow gorge with steep rock walls on each side meaning her opponent would either have to come to her or she'd have to go to him. Bullets hit the rock around her as they continued to fire having not needed to reload once yet.

"How many bullets do you have?" Yang called out in frustration.

"Enough!" Her opponent called back confidently as a bullet flew in the opposite direction hitting him square in the middle of the head knocking him out cold.

"I had that," Yang said watching her savior appear from the bushes, "You gonna fight me too?"

"Nope. And I know you had that, I just felt like getting the first elimination."

The person seemed to be a girl and Yang thought she recognized the voice.

"Book girl with the cute beanie?" Yang guessed.

"The names Blake. I guess we're partners now?"

"Yeah. We are. Let's get going I need to find my sister."

"Yang! There you are!" Yang turned to see Ruby calling her name and sliding down the side of the gorge with Weiss in tow.

"Oh, it's you," Blake sounded disappointed upon seeing Weiss.

"And you, I'm hoping we can put aside our differences considering we're stuck on a team now with these two," Weiss stuck a thumb in the direction of the sisters who were currently hugging each other.

"Yep. I hope to see you as more capable of fighting than your father is at running a humane company."

"The bar is low," Weiss admitted, "Very low. In fact anyone who can throw a punch is already over it."

"Your new nickname is Eclipse because that was some serious fucking shade there!" Yang jumped in.

Everyone else sighed at Yang's joke.

"We should get moving, we're already a full team but we still need to complete the objective," Ruby said looking towards the center of the training room.

The four of them started moving towards the center, gunfire being heard from multiple directions. Once they'd reached the center they found a massive pyramid shaped structure with the corners cut out. Multiple teams waited at the top talking casually and resting to pass the time. Blake ducked down just as a bullet whizzed overhead drawing their attention to a pair of cadets shooting at them from across the clearing. Ruby quickly took aim and let off a shot causing one of them to fall down immediately as the bullet slammed into their visor. The other quickly jumped behind a tree trunk for cover. The four of them spread out and pushed towards the tree from multiple angles. Their opponent jumped from behind their cover and attempted to make a swing at Blake with their melee weapon as they got closer. Blake flinched and the blade grazed her arm the suit system making it go limp. Weiss took a shot at the now exposed enemy that sent them rolling as the powerful bullet hit them in the gut.

"You okay?" Ruby asked Blake as she came closer to make sure the enemy was out.

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting that," Blake took a look at the enemies sword and saw that it was a katana before quickly turning away.

"We'd better get up there before more people show up," Yang suggested.

"Yes, that's a good plan," Weiss agreed.

The four made their way to one of the four steep ramps leading to the top of the structure before starting their ascent.

"Hey! You guys made it!"

"Who're you?" Ruby drew a blank.

"I'm the guy who threw up outside remember? Jaune Arc?"

"Oh yeah. You feeling any better?"

"Yep, just fine now that the hard part is out of the way."

"You think that was hard? And you've never drifted with anyone before? You're in for a rude awakening," Yang chuckled.

"Oh don't worry about him, I'm sure I'll be able to help him through it," a tall muscular girl who remained unidentified through her visor stood beside Jaune.

"This your partner?" Ruby asked.

"Pyrrha Nikos at your service! I'm sure I'll be enough to pull his weight until he gets the hang of it."

" _The_ Pyrrha Nikos?" Weiss asked almost in shock.

"The one and only."

"Wait, are you famous or something?" Jaune asked his partner.

"I might have been and still am number one solo Jaeger pilot on Remnant."

"Never heard of ya."

"I was on the Pumpkin Pete cereal box."

"That's you?!"

"Yep! A shame it wasn't very good for you."

"I'm honestly a little disappointed with my team now knowing that I could have had you," Weiss said with a shrug.

"Where's the rest of your team?" Blake asked curiously.

"Right here!" A short girl tackled Jaune from behind as a taller person stood behind her.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Lie Ren and this is my partner Nora Valkyrie. She's not one for subtlety."

"You got that right Ren!"

"Wow Jaune, the only guy on a team of girls," Ruby said smiling behind her visor.

"Common misconception! Ren is a dude," Nora corrected her.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Ruby apologized profusely.

"No it's fine, it happens all the time, I don't mind it that much."

"He embraces his feminine side," Nora added.

Ruby's smile had become more awkward.

"So how long are we supposed to wait here?" Weiss wondered impatiently.

"All remaining cadets, you have passed the test. Those who haven't already, make your way to the central pyramid and avoid stepping on knocked out failures along the way," Ozpin announced over loudspeaker.

"There's your answer," Yang said with a smile.

Slowly the combat suits began to disappear and their weapons faded away leaving everybody in the clothes they'd been wearing before. Blake quickly checked to make sure her beanie was still on having a brief look of relief on her face before recovering her composure before anyone noticed. Above them a hole opened up in the ceiling leading onto the section of the training room they'd stood before and the whole massive part of the building lowered down around them before closing back up and connecting to the floor they stood on. Ozpin stood waiting for them with a smile on his face.

"There is a lot of potential here, I look forward to seeing what you can do but for now I'll have someone come and lead you to your quarters, drift compatibility testing begins tomorrow and if all goes well you should be in a training Jaeger by the evening. Take the rest of today to get acquainted with the facility and your teammates."

A blonde woman stepped up from behind Ozpin and got everyone's attention.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch, I'm head of logistics here and second in command to Ozpin, you'll be dealing with me if you step out of line but I hope it doesn't come to that. I'll be showing you where you're staying and if you're interested I can give a proper tour of the more important areas of the facility," the suit clad woman introduced herself to the one hundred remaining cadets, "Once in your quarters you'll find uniforms ready in your sizes along with paperwork regarding your position on your teams. Team leaders will be required to attend a meeting tonight after dinner. Now follow me."

Glynda led them through a door that had opened in the nearest wall of the massive blank room. Outside were a few veteran teams hoping to get a look at the next generation of pilots. The majority of them were wearing casual clothing but a few were in uniform, the tight fitting bodysuits with armored padding and ports in the neck for proper drifting being accented with various colors making them easier to identify. Just past a large elevator at the end of the hall leading down into the Jaeger deployment sector were the pilot quarters and at the far end of this wing were the cadet quarters.

"Your rooms are set to your biometric readings and will let you in automatically, unless given permission by an administrator with proper clearance nobody else can enter your rooms unless invited by you. Your team name is labeled above your door, the position of people on your team is nonnegotiable," Glynda gave this brief explanation before leaving them to do as they pleased.

Ruby started walking the edge of the large circular room lined with twenty five rooms to find which was theirs before one opened and she took a look at the team name there.

"Yang! Look!" Ruby pointed at their team designation.

"Team RWBY? You're team leader?" Yang asked excitedly.

"Looks that way," Blake said as she came over to look.

"Oh great, you? I obviously would've been a better choice," Weiss groaned.

"What suggested position did you get on your application acceptance letter?" Yang asked Weiss with a glare.

"Supporting fire," Weiss sighed.

"That's what I thought, Ruby got team leader on hers. Plus Summer was team leader too so it's basically genetic at this point."

"You've got different moms?" Blake asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's not a big deal because technically both of them are both of our moms, you know how it happens sometimes with teams," Ruby explained.

"Yeah polyamory is pretty common among Jaeger teams when compared to the general public," Yang added.

"I didn't know that."

"Seems a little odd if you ask me," Weiss stated.

"When you're sharing multiple peoples heads it's difficult to not develop feelings of some kind for more than one of them I guess," Yang said with a shrug, explaining it the way Tai had.

"Yang, we need to call to tell them!" Ruby said reminding her sister of the promise they'd made to their parents.

"Oh shit yeah, you guys mind meeting them early?" Yang asked their teammates.

"I don't mind, they seem pretty cool," Blake answered.

"Yeah it's fine," Weiss agreed.

Yang and Ruby led the way into the decently sized room that was somewhat bare besides the bunks set in the walls and the desk in the middle of the far wall. Yang took out her phone and started a video call with their dad.

"Hey dad!"

"Hey sweety, how'd it go?" Tai asked eagerly not being able to see much of her surroundings through the camera.

"Get Summer and Raven first and then we'll tell you."

"Yeah get them first," Ruby added excitedly.

"Hey kiddos, we're all here, even managed to drag your uncle out of bed to talk with you," Raven said glaring at her brother once they'd all been assembled.

"I'm team leader!" Ruby shouted excitedly once she'd assured that their whole family was there.

"No way! I'm so proud of you!" Summer squealed.

"Oh yeah, these are our teammates, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. And yes, she's _that_ Weiss Schnee," Yang said as she planned the camera to show them.

"Hello," Blake said with a little wave.

"Team STRQ I assume," Weiss greeted them.

"How polite, well we hope you take good care of our girls, be careful once training starts," Summer said.

"We will," Blake assured them.

"Yeah, everything's gonna be fine."


	2. Drift

The first night in their new beds had been restless as they grew accustomed to the unfamiliar noises of the RDC headquarters but no attempts were made between them to familiarize themselves with their teammates as the four person drift scheduled for the next day would handle that, exposing each members full life story to the others in the process. Ruby slept well enough, the meeting that Glynda had held for all twenty five team leaders had been nothing special besides basic expected conduct of teams as a whole. Morning came eventually and Blake was the first of the team awake and stepped out of the dorm to see if anyone else was awake and was met with a completely different sight than what had been outside their room when they entered it that night. The room had gone from an empty circular chamber to a fully furnished lounge and recreational area, several tables sat near the entrance to the wing most likely for meals while the rest of the area was divided into several sections, a work out area full of various training equipment, an information center with several TVs and computers along with a few bookshelves, and lastly the recreation area with couches and cushioned seats set around coffee tables loaded with board games and other distractions as well as a few TVs hooked up to game consoles and even some vintage arcade games and a pool table.

"Man, what a makeover," Blake muttered to herself as she took in the area.

"Good morning!" somebody cried out in a sing song voice from the tables.

Blake quickly recognized the person who'd spoken as Nora of the recently assembled team JNPR, she was still wondering how someone as inept as Jaune managed to become team leader. Beside Nora sat Ren who waved Blake over.

"Good morning, I wasn't expecting to see this when I woke up that's for sure," Blake said as she sat down across from the pair.

"It happened around two in the morning, I felt the ground shift as everything was put into place like the training building," Ren said casually as he cut a piece out of a pancake.

"Huh, neat. Where'd you guys get the food?"

"That machine right there, just put in whatever you want and it'll ship you something right from the kitchens," Nora said between bites.

Blake stepped over and took a look at the touchscreen with a myriad of options for breakfast. She ended up deciding to stick with just a tea for now, something to help wake her up.

"Morning Blake," Yang jovially greeted her partner as she came out of their dorm soon after the tea had come up.

"Hey Yang. Sleep well?"

"About as well as expected. Ruby's still asleep and Weiss is doing her makeup for some reason."

"I didn't expect her to be that vain."

"I dunno, she seemed determined not to let me see her before she put it on."

"Weird."

Blake continued to sip her tea as Yang went over to get her own breakfast sent up. Soon Weiss was awake and out of their dorm, it didn't look like she was wearing makeup at all.

"Morning Ice Queen," Yang greeted her as she unraveled a cinnamon roll she'd ordered.

Weiss rolled her eyes and ordered a coffee as she held up a finger to stall further conversation for a moment. Once she'd downed nearly half the mug of scalding drink she sat it down and managed a small smile, "Good morning Yang, Blake."

Blake nodded and leaned back in her seat before glancing up just as Ruby came out of the dorm.

Yang stood up straight in a mock salute, "O' mighty leader, what does your infinite wisdom say this great and glorious morning upon your awakening?"

"Coffee," Ruby grumbled as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"Finally somebody who understands," Weiss shook her head and stood up to get the coffee for Ruby, "How do you take it?"

"Three creams, two sugars," Ruby yawned as she sat down by her teammates.

Once Ruby had the mug in her hand she livened up a little more. A little too much in fact.

"Ruby. Meds," Yang reminded her sister.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Ruby blushed as she realized she'd forgotten some of her daily medications in her bags and ran to get them before returning and downing a handful of colorful pills and washing it down with more coffee.

"Alright! Now that that's sorted we should probably think about what we're gonna do after the drifting exercise," Ruby suggested.

"Actually tour the facility?" Blake suggested.

"Practice more drifting," Weiss added.

"Training!" Yang said with more enthusiasm than necessary as she gestured towards the training facilities.

"Yes, yes, and yes," Ruby pointed at each of her teammates in turn leading to each of them celebrating in their own ways.

The rest of the morning went quickly leading up to when Glynda came back and started taking teams to drift in alphabetical order. Eventually it was time for team RWBY. They were led single file in order to the drifting room, a small room with a pylon in the middle with four sets of drifting gear attached to each side of the pylon. A technician came in to hook them up before exiting, it was almost time.

"You guys ready?" Ruby asked nervously, she'd only drifted with Yang before.

"Of course we are," Weiss scoffed but the tapping of her foot said otherwise.

Blake was trying to calm her breathing and Yang was somehow the calmest of all of them, an eager smile resting on her face. The countdown began and as it ended their word went into darkness and then suddenly into light as they were experiencing one of their lives from the very beginning.

"It's a boy!"

The triumphant cry of a midwife was heard over the crying of the newborn child. The three of them, aside from Ruby whose mind this was, were in a hospital room crowded full of people, some recognizable as Yang and Ruby's family, most as doctors and nurses. If Weiss or Blake took a single look at Yang's face as they ended up doing after spotting a blonde and freckled toddler clutching to a younger Tai they'd see that she had an immovable scowl on her face. In Summer's arms was a newborn Ruby, but not Ruby yet. In a flash they were years down the line. Grade school. Yang was constantly protective of Ruby, they all got a view of Yang's first fight which was entirely one sided as she beat the daylights out of a boy who'd called her sibling too girly, all from just over Ruby's shoulder. Then it was middle school. Puberty and hormones were kicking in and Ruby was realizing she didn't like how she was born. Detested it to the point that she could hardly look at herself in the mirror without throwing up. Then she came out, Yang already had an idea but didn't know it was that bad. The rest of their family was fully supportive and it went easily from there. Ruby had fully transitioned from what she'd been before to who she was today. The rest was a blur up until something more recent, the blaring of sirens in drowsy ears, the flashing red lights. Yang tried to shut it out even as nothing but a spectator this time it was just as bad. Patch was destroyed again right before her very eyes.

Then it was bright white again. But this time snow. Snow and ice. Obviously this was Weiss's memories. She was trudging through knee deep snow which was only about eight inches deep considering she was a young girl, most likely only in elementary school if it weren't for the exclusive academy she attended. The days at the boarding school blurred together into a ringing in Weiss's ears as she was screamed at and berated day in and day out, constantly being physically punished for speaking out in defense of her peers and herself. After showing a stagnation in her studies she was sent home where she began to receive private tutoring. The tutors were uninteresting and miles better than the teachers at the academy but she also had to deal with her father, his disapproving glare, his arguments with her mother and the sudden absence of her older sister off to fight a war she knew nothing about. Another jump. Her first public concert at a banquet held by her father's company. She was behind stage looking at herself in the mirror as her makeup was applied. Her father was supposed to be coming to talk to her soon and the makeup artist left her alone for a few minutes before he arrived. Weiss felt sick to her stomach at the thought of helping her father like this. Her reflection seemed to sneer back at her and she had the sudden urge to knock the pristine teeth out of its mouth and punched the mirror. It shattered into hundreds of pieces and Weiss found herself on the floor staring into a large jagged piece of it. She couldn't go on. She couldn't do this. She loved to sing but to sing for him like some caged songbird went against everything her instincts told her. Then she had an idea, she couldn't perform if she was injured, and just like that in an adrenaline fueled haze she grabbed the shard and dragged the sharp edges along the insides of her arms, her blood pooling along the wounds before starting to drip along her bare arms. She had a smile on her face as she looked up at her father with the mirror shard pressed tight against her palm. He was unfazed and cursed at her as if she were an employee who'd damaged valuable merchandise, ordering an attendant to bandage her and give her a jacket with long enough sleeves to cover them. She was sent out to sing anyways, she could feel the warm blood dripping down her arm and off of her fingers onto the polished marble as she sang with no emotion as she always did. Even more years later and Weiss is packing her things quickly, Jacques, who she'd stopped calling her father recently was out of the mansion and she'd managed to bribe one of the delivery ship pilots into taking her to Vale. Scores of scars marked her arms as she pulled a fur coated jacket on before hurrying away, she was on her own now.

Blake subconsciously bit her lip in anticipation of what was next, she new it would be her own past. Instead of bright white she was born into shadow, the dim flickering of lamplight in the nursery of her home in Menagerie, her father stood over the bed with his White Fang mask on his belt, it was back when such a thing brought comfort and a sense of safety around there. The next memory was like looking through a chain link fence, Blake was wearing her father's mask as she trained in secret, delivering lightning quick blows to dummies who's positions she'd memorized to make up for the lack of vision in the mask far too big for her. As she went in for the final strike on the last target it was cleaved in half by a scarlet blade that narrowly missed her head. Stepping over the wooden corpse was her mentor and friend, Adam Taurus, she giggled and ran forward to hug the older boy after he'd returned from another mission. She smiled and looked up at him with adoration as he laughed and rubbed her ears. The next time she looked up at him like that he was holding her hand out to help her into his jaeger, Lieshi. She took his hand and then it was into another memory, that same hand raised above her before slapping her and knocking the mask from her face. She sobbed softly as Adam criticized every action she'd made during their mission, this was their routine and she thought it was making her better, the constant insults and harsh criticism of her own unwillingness to kill as he did. Then she realized, he was only limiting her, he was a ball and chain keeping her from becoming better than him by breaking her down to nothing more than a shadow of himself. And then she was. A shadow against the back of the cockpit of Lieshi, a shadow against the emergency exit hatch, and then a shadow in the night outside as she disconnected their drift and let him spiral into his own self destructive madness.

And then Yang's was light, not white and blinding like the first two, nor dim and flickering like the third, but warm and comforting, a sunset. But it was a sad sunset as Yang was six and being left alone with Ruby for the fifth time that week as she watched her parents and Qrow climb into the transport that would deliver them to their Jaegers. She screamed in frustration as she was left to the empty house once more. And that's how it was, the same empty house, day after day, slowly driving her to desperation when they were gone. Sometimes she'd get home from school and they were gone, others they left in the middle of the night and Yang had to handle everything else herself. She started to give off this image of being competent and capable because of how much she was forced to do on her own but it left her emotionally closed off from the world, save for Ruby. In an attempt to get closer to her parents she joined the militia as soon as she was sixteen. She went through grueling physical training that changed her from a scrawny teen into the experienced fighter she was today but it did nothing, her parents were still these great heroes on a pedestal far above her and she never managed to get that connection until they were all dropped to rock bottom together as their home was completely destroyed in the blink of an eye.

As quickly as the link had been established it went away and each of them were back in their own bodies, all four of them were crying, both from their own memories and experiencing those of the others. Not a word was uttered between them as they stood and hugged each other, connected through emotion and trauma, the experiences that defined them effecting the others in the same way. They stood there, arms wrapped around each other for nearly ten minutes as silent sobs wracked their bodies and their tears stained their teammates shoulders. Eventually their tear ducts dried up and they hesitantly pulled out of the hug, their team bond had been formed and nothing was breaking it now. Blake hesitantly pulled off her beanie revealing her Faunus ears and Weiss rolled up her sleeves slightly to expose the raised scar tissue covering most of her arms. Ruby looked at the two of them and seeing them bare their insecurities like that made her feel more confident overall and she hugged them both individually before pulling away and giving the team a curt nod, they had done what was needed and now they had to go back to their dorm. Once they'd returned the sat together on one of the bunks in stunned silence before it was broken by all four talking at once.

"I should've told you-"

"I'm pretty different-"

"Should've said something-"

"I'm sorry-"

They all took a deep breath as they cut themselves off to keep from interrupting each other before letting out various sighs.

"Who wants to go first?" Ruby spoke up.

"I'll go," Blake raised a hand, her ears twitching nervously.

Ruby nodded and Weiss set a hand on her shoulder reassuringly as she began to speak.

"My father is the Cheiftain of Menagerie and the founder of the White Fang. At first it was a group of peace as you surely know. Then it collapsed, split apart into various factions. Some more militant and aggressive and others sticking to the original peaceful vision. Adam, my mentor led one of those factions. One of the more violent ones. He trained me and made me think it was the way forward. To fight and kill humans to earn their respect. He beat it into me," she smiled sadly, "I thought he loved me, that he did it for my own good. But he's a selfish man, he only cares about himself and the power he gains. He started to worship the Grimm and the power they have, even convincing others that they were our allies in destroying mankind. They're a cult. I left. Left him to his madness, now even more pronounced after I left him to solo drift and break apart within his Jaeger. And now he's hunting me. I thought I'd be safe here. I hope I'm right."

Ruby nodded and pulled Blake into a hug, the Faunus girl making a surprised noise before melting into the affectionate touch, Weiss and Yang soon joining in.

"My turn," Weiss decided once they'd finished hugging again.

"It's obvious isn't it? My father's a terrible person. He cares for nothing more than his personal gain and despite my ineffective personal attempts to set him back he continued to use me to further his goals," Weiss bared her scars to her teammates, hundreds upon hundreds on each arm, she must have lost dozens of liters of blood doing that, "So I left. I put my money to good use and spent it to get away from him, I'm glad I ran into you three."

Again the four ended up hugging, this time Weiss being at the center of it all.

"I-I guess I should go next?" Ruby laughed nervously and blushed.

Yang nodded and wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulder as she started telling her own story.

"You saw obviously but I was born a boy. And I'm obviously not now. Duh. So, yeah I'm trans. Comments questions concerns?"

Both Blake and Weiss shook their heads before hugging their team leader, Ruby letting out a sigh of relief to be accepted so quickly.

"You guys saw what my deal was, abandonment issues. Not as big a deal as two different cases of abuse," Yang shrugged.

"You're still just as important Yang," Weiss rolled her eyes and hugged the blonde just as hard.

Yang faked a sniffle and wiped a nonexistent tear, "You guys, I think I'm gonna cry."

"Ooh, we should go check out our Jaegers now! Glynda said they'd nearly be ready today," Ruby shouted in sudden surprise as she remembered.

"Can't wait to see a properly constructed Jaeger and not one made of spare parts and stolen components," Blake smiled, it would be a refreshing experience to use a military grade mech.

"And I cant wait to customize our loadouts! We've got free reign of every bit of tech they've got, from micronuclear warheads to railguns," Yang smiled at the thought of kitting out their Jaegers to be the perfect Grimm killing machines.

The excitement in the room was palpable. They were minutes away from seeing the greatest military marvel of mankind's own creation yet. The Jaegers. Twenty story tall mechs designed to interface with an operators own nervous system for maximum combat efficiency. The vastness of its own internal system requiring two pilots for effective and safe operation, extended solo piloting can lead to sanity decay and mental breakdowns as well as ultra violent outbursts and drug-like addiction to 'drifting' the process of linking with the Jaeger.

Each Jaeger was unique, equipped specifically for the pair of pilots inside. Some more unique than others, sporting extra limbs for a third or even fourth pilot on rare occasions, and others having entirely custom weapons aboard designed by the pilots themselves.

Ten minutes later the four of them were back in their slick combat suits from initiation. The helmets and visors were gone but otherwise they were the same as before including personalized symbols on the cuffs for identification purposes. They'd been left on a large cargo elevator that was taking them down to the ground level of the Jaeger yard where each of the giant mechs would be towering above them, Ozpin said it was supposed to be a humbling experience.

It was quiet the opposite when they saw the massive humanoid mecha high above them. These were stock models fresh off the production line for the new recruits, ready to be customized for any need. They looked like giant skeletons covered in gunmetal chrome with a huge hole in their chests where the inactive dust reactors had been set. A mechanic walked up and led them down the line towards the pair that would be assigned to their team.

"These are the top of the line models, all the latest improvements to the basic stuff is in there. The rest of the kit is up to you. You can check out the armory in a bit if you like," he said as he led them onto another smaller elevator that would take them up to eye level with the machines where they could enter the pilots cabin inside the heads.

Ruby's eyes were practically shining as she looked up at the pair of mecha, she almost looked like she was vibrating with excitement as Yang was forced to physically restrain her from immediately rushing out to get a look at it when they reached the top of the elevator.

"Come on Ruby, let's get a feel for her. What should her name be?" Weiss waved for Ruby to follow her into the first of the two Jaegers as was customary for the team leader and their partner.

Yang released Ruby who immediately ran to Weiss's side and jumped past her into the open cockpit of the head, it was roughly the size of a large living room with plenty of space to move and store cargo or extra equipment should the situation call for it. In an instant Ruby was scrambling around the interface systems and access ports to other parts of the entire body.

Weiss just stood and watched, her expertise lay more in the dust based energy systems of the battle suits than their mechanical functions, but clearly Ruby was well versed in every inch of the humanoid structures.

Meanwhile a few hundred feet beside them in the other Jaeger Blake and Yang were taking a look around in their cockpit, making sure it was all up to specs and the interfaces were fitted to them properly.

"Hmm, names are a tricky thing with Jaegers, there's a lot of possibilities," Ruby mumbled as she grabbed onto a structural beam and pulled herself up to look at the ceiling casing of the cockpit while Weiss watched.

"What about Iceflower? Your name, my color palette, it seems fairly simple." Weiss shrugged and said this as if she was stating the obvious.

"Weiss, you're a genius!" Ruby shouted as she jumped down and landed on the floor in a heap in front of her white haired partner.

"I try."

"So what kinda name should we give this thing?" Yang asked Blake as she messed with some of the settings on the right side of the Jaeger to fit her preferences.

"Bumblebee. Agile but packing a punch." Blake said plainly, her ears twitching as she walked around her blonde partner.

"I like it! Let's go with that for now." Yang nodded in agreement, a lock of hair falling into her face and causing her to brush it away.

"You should put your hair up, might make things easier," Blake suggested as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah I should, forgot to bring hair ties out here, I'll have to ask one of my moms to bring some."

"I actually think I've got a couple back in the dorm," Blake took a couple steps towards her teammate and gestured towards her hair, "May I?"

"You know, I don't let many people besides Ruby and my parents touch my hair, but go ahead," Yang blushed faintly and nodded, choosing to focus on her editing.

Blake smiles softly as she started weaving Yang's hair together, quickly getting it into a messy braided bun that would hold for at least a few minutes, "There."

Yang smiled and nodded with satisfaction, "Thanks Blake, it looks good."

"Woah, Yang's letting Blake do her hair," Ruby said in awe from the other cockpit, quiet enough that she wasn't heard by the other pair.

"What's so special about that?" Weiss cocked her head to the side as she sat down beside Ruby.

"She hardly lets anybody so much as touch her hair, styling is the next step up and cutting is off limits to everyone except herself so she must trust Blake a lot already."

"Oh. Well their bond does seem a little stronger doesn't it?"

"That just comes with time, we'll all get there eventually," Ruby patted Weiss's shoulder and stood up as an alarm sounded through the hangar.

In the far wall, past lanes upon lanes of Jaegers and empty docks the walls opened up and through the huge opening stride two slightly battered Jaegers, clearly one of the senior teams. One Jaeger was smaller and had a lithe look to it, hard light projectors flickering about it as what looked like offensive shielding flickered off. The other was massive, a while fifty feet taller than the average Jaeger and proportionately wide, its shoulders had to be to support the huge sword that was slung over them and a equally large minigun was mounted beneath its other arm.

 **"Team CFVY please proceed to your docks for repairs, mission debriefing in ten,"** the announcement rang out over the hangar speakers, blatantly directed at the pair of Jaegers.

"So... Cool..." Ruby watched starry eyed as the two stepped into place and shut down, their pilots disembarking but not clearly seen from that distance.

"That'll be us eventually, badass pilots back from fighting off the Grimm," Weiss smirked.

"We'll be better, the best!"


End file.
